The Keys to the Congo: and Further Travels: Memoir of a 2x Peace Corps Volunteer by Irene Brammertz (Zaire 1988-90; Malawi 2011-12) Self-published October 2015 207 pages $30.00 (hardcover), $8.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) • Irene Brammertz has written a diary type memoir, drawing on journals and letters she wrote and subsequently edited intermittently for ten years after her first service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zaire. When Irene was 70-years-old she returned to Africa as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer for nine months in Malawi. Then she participated in a mission trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in 2013, when she revisited the people and places she had left behind in 1990. In her memoir, Irene recalls all the tribulations of culture shock that every PCV experiences: It’s a wonder that anybody gets anything done to earn a living since it . . .

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. • The Keys to the Congo: and Further Travels: Memoir of a 2x Peace Corps Volunteer Irene Brammertz (Zaire 1988–90; Malawi 2011–12) Self-published October 2015 207 pages $30.00 (hardcover), $8.99 (Kindle) . • One of Windsor: The Untold Story of America’s First Witch Hanging (historical fiction) Beth M. Caruso (Thailand 1989–91); editor: Susanne Aspley (Thailand 1989–91) Lady Slipper Press October 2015 386 pages $17.95 (paperback); $9.99 (Kindle) • A Stone House in Pokhara and Other Tales (Peace Corps letters) Mike Frame (Nepal 1962-66) Larchill Press 2011 250 pages $25.00 from Larchhill Press . • Mike’s Breakfast Cooking in Nepal . . .

(Thanks to Nancy Tongue(Chile 1980-82) founder of Health Justice for Peace Corps Volunteers (HJPCV) for Leading this fight for better health for RPCV.) CBS NEWS December 14, 2015, 7:43 AM Ex-volunteers accuse Peace Corps of health care neglect The Peace Corps says 91 percent of volunteers are satisfied with their medical care, but government reports as far as 1991 found problems with that care. Some returned volunteers tell CBS News they’ve fallen through the cracks both during and after their service — in some cases, for decades, reports CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave. In 1965, Nancy Minadeo Flanigan was a Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia. She was raped by local men and impregnated with a daughter, who died at birth. “I started having depression and nightmares and flashbacks,” Flanigan said. In 2012 she got word she would be reimbursed for 50 years of medical bills, but she needed receipts. “Well, . . .